The present invention relates to a method of effecting feeding in fur farms, primarily in mink farms. Traditionally mink feeding is carried out by delivering some times during the day a paste-like wet fodder, which is placed in lumps on the net top of the cages, from where the animals can pick down the fodder. The delivery may take place by means of a fodder cart, which is designed to enable the operator, by means of a discharge hose, to dose out rather accurate fodder portions to the single cages. As the minks, by nature, are mainly night animals it would be good if they could be fed also some times during the night, but that would involve considerable costs due to the need of personnel. For this reason, inter alia, the use of self feeding dispensers holding dry fodder in the form of pills has become increasingly common, these pills being well suited for use in reasonably large portions in such dispensers, as the pill material is much less perishable than the wet fodder. In such dry feeding systems it is sufficient, therefore, to fill up the dispensers at intervals of, say, one or few days, and in the meantime the animals may serve themselves both day and night.
It has been found however, that not either the latter feeding method is also not perfect. The ample or unrestricted access to the dry fodder in the dispensers seems to result in the animals by concentrated eating being surfeited and supine, whereby they sleep much and do not show the growth they ought to. Probably it would be advantageous if the easy access to the fodder could be made less easy, but a restriction of the supply flow could easily result in a total blocking up of the flow, and in fact it is already a problem that blockings may occur in the dry fodder dispensers used so far.
It is the purpose of the invention to provide a method, whereby a practically optimal feeding is achievable.
The invention is based on the finding that by an automatically controlled discharge of the dry fodder from the dispensers several important advantages are achievable, viz. (1) The feeding may be effected at all desired times, during the day and particularly during the night, without any need of attention other than possibly necessary for the supply of relatively large fodder portions to the dispensers within normal working hours, (2) The feeding may be effected by fodder portions sufficiently small to ensure that the animals cannot overfill themselves, yet sufficiently large to be handled by relatively coarse dispension means without causing any blocking thereof or therein, i.e. a safe feeding is achievable by a fodder supply which is restricted, not by a general supply flow restriction, but by the restriction conditioned by an intermittent operation of the associated feeding dispenser, and (3) The very come-out of the intermittent feedings will contribute to keep the animals active, as they will both feel and get used to the turning up of fodder portions, by day and not least by night, which portions will be all the same attractive, just because the animals will not get surfeited with any of them. Observations have shown that the animals will hereby show a noticeably improved growth and that the fodder is utilized much more effectively.
It is readily admitted that in connection with some other kinds of animal breeding it is well known to use automatic feeding systems, but apparently it has not until now been realized that such systems, properly adapted for the purpose, will be usable with quite special advantages in the breeding of minks.
The invention also comprises the relevant feeding systems and the associated, automatically operated feeding dispensers. While the known self-feeding dispensers operate under the condition that the fodder is supplied quite slowly, depending the animal's eating of the fodder, the dispensers according to the invention will operate by intermittent dumping of relatively large fodder portions, whereby the risk of the supply being blocked will be considerably reduced. The same dumpings with their associated small shakings from the applied operation movements will act wakening on slumbering animals, whereby these are activated in an advantageous manner.
As a practical example, some 70 g fodder should be supplied per animal per 24 hours, of which 30-40% should be supplied during the day hours between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. and the rest during the evening and the night. The single doses should be of the magnitude 10 grammes.